1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to apparatus and methods operative to inhibit shifting of a load, and thereby assure the integrity of freight loaded on board a carrier vehicle or container while in transit. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an apparatus for rapidly, safely, and efficiently anchoring an inflatable load engaging member to either the load or the load carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Very diverse cargo, represented by all types of matter, size, and purpose is being moved about us at a dizzying pace. The logistics of this production and transport is equally as complex and challenging, and has led to the expenditure of billions of dollars developing and implementing several important technologies. Among these are just-in-time (JIT) delivery which can apply to both production and transport; transportation vehicle tracking using Global Positioning System (GPS) locators, cellular tower triangulation, and other position detection apparatus; and even discrete device, package or container tracking and monitoring. In summary, enormous investment has been made in knowing exactly where a particular cargo shipment is physically located during transport.
When effectively executed, these technologies can reduce the need for warehouse space, reduce the likelihood of product spoilage or expiration, and improve inventory turn-over, all which are very important in controlling costs, improving reliability of delivery, and increasing manufacturing flexibility. Nevertheless, and as may be apparent, these technologies also rely entirely upon the safe transport of the cargo. A perfectly timed delivery is useless, and can instead be extremely costly, if the cargo itself is damaged or destroyed during transit.
This diverse cargo may be loaded in equally as diverse carrier vehicles or containers. A cargo area might, for exemplary purposes only and not solely limiting thereto, be defined by a cargo container such as a rail car, an airplane cargo hold, a semi trailer, or an intermodal container, each which will be of different size and shape. When filling these cargo containers, the cargo will rarely exactly fit within. In addition, there are many times where the cargo may comprise large, irregular, and relatively unprotected items, or be shipped in a cargo container which may also contain other diverse cargo. Whether due to an inexact fit between the cargo container and cargo, or as a result of irregular cargo, there will almost always be undesirable empty spaces within the cargo container. These empty spaces may in turn may lead to undesirable load shifting of the cargo within the cargo container during transport. Such load shifting, particularly when it occurs suddenly, may lead to substantial damage both to the cargo and to the cargo container.
The risk of harm or damage to the cargo is governed in part by the cargo itself, which can be either fragile or durable; in part by the spaces or voids within the cargo container; and also in part by any additional surroundings or packing that may provide containment of the cargo. In other words, if one object is free to move and collide with another object within a cargo container, this collision certainly increases the risk of harm or damage. Alternatively, if an object is surrounded by a soft and cushioning divider, then the risk of harm or damage may be substantially reduced.
Particularly where the cargo may comprise large and relatively unprotected items, at least a minimal amount of isolation and protection can be highly beneficial. In such cases, a load divider is preferred, to isolate objects from each other. In addition, filling voids in a cargo container will also help to secure and stabilize cargo. For these and other applications, previous artisans have devised dunnage bags of various sorts that are readily inflated and which can be used for one or more of the aforementioned or other known applications. Dunnage bags are inflatable bags commonly used in the transportation industry to fill empty spaces within a cargo area. They literally provide an air cushion around cargo, and can be inflated to fill up most any void within a cargo container. In the event of a sudden force applied to the cargo container, such as a bump in the road or a rough handling of the cargo container, the dunnage bag will merely compress between adjacent objects, increasing the pressure within the bag and absorbing the energy that would otherwise lead to damaged cargo.
Unfortunately, these dunnage bags are generally quite large and awkward to handle, and even more difficult to place and hold during inflation. Once again, this is especially true where the spaces to be filled and the dunnage bags placed within these spaces are both relatively large. Common cargo containers are commonly much taller than an ordinary person. For exemplary purposes, intermodal containers and semi-trailers will typically range from 8 to 9.5 feet tall, and hicube boxcars have typical internal heights approaching 13 feet. In order to reach these heights and properly place the dunnage bags, workers will typically climb on ladders and attempt to hold the bag and additionally hold an inflation source, all while guiding and placing the bag and while maintaining footing on the ladder. As can be appreciated, this approach is quite dangerous, particularly in cold or wet conditions, and requires many trips up and down the ladder to place the dunnage bags. Furthermore, the worker can only set the ladder on open flooring, meaning he may have to reach over or around the cargo, which can lead to slip and fall injuries. The worker may not even be able to reach into smaller voids, leaving these unprotected. Depending upon how full the cargo container may be, there may not be any open flooring upon which to set the ladder.
Another issue arises with some taller cargo containers such as typical rail cars. OSHA standards require a person who is 6 feet or more above the ground or floor to be tied off before conducting any tasks. Typical rail cars are commonly approximately 13 feet in internal height. This means that an ordinary person will in most cases need to climb above the six foot OSHA threshold in order to be able to reach a hanging location within the rail car. The challenge in the case of placing prior art dunnage bags is that there is no place for a worker to tie off to within most rail cars. This means that the worker is almost certainly in violation of OSHA requirements, creating undesirable legal exposure. Even if there is a place to tie off, the time required to obtain and place the ladder, climb the ladder, tie off, place the dunnage bag, release the safety tie, climb back down the ladder, and then store the ladder is both substantial and an undesirable hindrance.
In the prior art, some artisans have designed hangers and slides or other mechanical apparatus which are semi-permanently or permanently attached. Exemplary U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,402 by Baxter, entitled “Dunnage service”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,806 by Sperry et al, entitled “Inflatable packing material and inflation system”; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,918,167 by Tanielian et al, entitled “Extremely rapid reversible barrier and formation method”. While solving some problems, these add substantial cost to the cargo container, limit the flexibility of placement of dunnage bags, and restrict future use of the cargo container. As may be apparent, subdividing a container using dunnage bag curtains or walls is beneficial, but certainly not as flexible in use or application as freely placed bags. Instead, the subdivided cargo space is still subject to the issues of the larger space, namely whether the cargo fits well into the subdivided space and whether there is irregular shaped cargo.
Several other artisans have designed dunnage bags that may be adhesively attached to either the cargo container or load. Exemplary U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,973 by Baxter, entitled “Dunnage bag with attachment means”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,801 by Keenan et al, entitled “Dual bladder airbag”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,515 by Sansone et al, entitled “Dual bladder airbag”. To allow these bags to be placed first, and then inflated, adhesive patches or strips provided in these prior art bags are located adjacent to the top of the bag. This allows the bag to be hung limply in an uninflated state from the adhesive area, and then the bag may be inflated to fill the space. Once the bag is inflated, it will typically be securely held in place due to surface contact and friction with surrounding objects and surfaces.
However, this means that the bags must be adhered at or near to the top of the cargo container. Once again, this means the worker will need to reach to near the top of the container, which may for exemplary purposes range from 8 to 13 feet above the floor. This means that this adhesive attachment still suffers from many of the limitations of the prior art, being time consuming and undesirably dangerous. As also noted above, the worker may not even be able to reach into smaller voids, leaving these unprotected.
The teachings and contents of two additional patents are incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,188 by Sams, entitled “Label dispensing and applying apparatus”; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,485,580 by Ackerstein Klein, entitled “Apparatus for protecting a child's head”. In addition to the aforementioned patents, Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.